Rise of the TMNT - How They Met
by roxygoth
Summary: Most people can't pinpoint the exact moment their life changed forever. April O'Neil can however. It was the moment she met four talking turtles. And their rat father of course. Well. Normal was over-rated anyway, right?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! Roxy Goth here. I've risen from the dead to write another TMNT fanfic.**

 **Now this is an odd one and I admit I am totally jumping the gun here. But it takes place in the Rise of the TMNT universe.**

 **It's a scene of April meeting the boys [and Splinter] for the first time. Because I don't want to jump the gun too much I'm not going into too much detail about how April ends up in the lair. Just assume the turtles were defending her from something.**

 **This is a two-parter.**

 **I do not own TMNT in any way shape of form.**

April had a pounding headache. She groaned and tried to sit up, but failed, falling back onto something soft instead. "Ugh…"

"Be careful Miss." She heard an elderly male voice say. "You have sustained quite a nasty bump."

"Uuh" April opened her eyes, only to close them again when she realised the world was blurry. "M-my glasses? W-where are my glasses?"

There was a pause and then the man's voice said. "Raphael, please fetch the young lady's glasses."

Raphael? What kind of weird name was that. The frame of her glasses suddenly appeared in front of her face and she groggily took them and put them on. "Thanks." She sat up, rubbing her eyes as she did so. She blinked and looked straight ahead.

There was a tortoise standing in front of her. Well, sitting down actually, on an old armchair. He had a blue mask, a glass of water in his hand and with his other hand he waved at her. "Hi!"

April blinked again, before shutting her eyes and counting to ten. She opened them again. The same scene greeted her. "Y-you're a tortoise." She said.

"Turtle actually." The voice came from behind her and April whipped her head round, groaning as her fore-head started throbbing.

There was another turtle, with a purple mask sitting on another armchair. "Although technically we're terrapin's."

April found herself unable to say anything else except. "Right. I'm going mental. Oh geez!" She rubbed her forehead again. "Talking turtles!"

"And just how's that any different from talking bears or ducks?" April screamed as an orange-masked turtle bobbed up from behind the sofa she was lying on and casually leaned his arms across the top of it.

"Because they're not real!"

"An excellent point." The purple masked turtle said, calmly. "We however are. As evidence by the fact we're talking to you now." He proceeded to get up and kneel in front of her. "My name is Donatello. Hamato-Donatello. But you can call me Donnie. What's your name?"

"Name?"

"Yes, name. You do have one I presume?"

"A-april." She cleared her throat. "April O'Neil. Oh god, I can't believe I'm talking to a turtle."

"You better believe it sister." The blue-masked turtle said, cheekily. "We're one of a kind."

"Four if you want to be pedantic." Donnie said, smiling a little. "And if it helps we can't believe we're talking to a human."

As the situation came crashing down on her, April found herself blurting out. "What are you going to do with me!?"

"Relax Miss O'Neil calm yourself." The rat said, as April began panicking. "Breath. Breath…that's it. That's it." As April got her breathing under control, the rat said. "We have no wish to harm you. We will let you go whenever you wish. "

Finding her voice again, April said immediately. "I want to go now. Now."

"Are you sure you don't want-" The purple masked turtle began.

"I WANT TO GO HOME! NOW!" April screamed before bursting into tears.

The four turtle looked at the rat, who simply nodded. "Very well Miss O'Neil. My sons will show you the way out. Raphael?"

A shadow fell over her and April looked up and screamed as the biggest turtle she had even seen blocked her vision.

"Yeah. We often have that reaction to Raph." The orange masked turtle said jokily, before being promptly smacked round the head as the big turtle – who had a red mask she noticed – whacked him round the head.

The rat said something sharply in a language she didn't understand, but the turtles clearly did as they stopped clowning around.

"I-I'm fine." April tried to insist as the one in purple helped her get up.

He looked straight at her and April noticed he had black eyes. "If I let go would you be alright?"

"Yes!"

"Fair enough." With that he let her go and she fell backwards onto the sofa.

"Donatello!" The rat snapped.

The purple masked turtle threw his hands up. "She said she'd be fine!"

The rat said some more things that April didn't understand, but didn't sound complimentary ad the purple masked turtle responded – sounding quite subdued - and stepped back.

The blue banded turtle held his hand out to her. "Ignore my idiot brother, Miss O'Neil." He said, sounding quite posh. "He has the social graces of a truck." As April took his hand and allowed him to pull her up, she heard the red one mutter.

"Huh. That's an insult to trucks." The purple one promptly stood on his foot, which causes both a yelp and a giggle – from the red one and April respectively.

"I will set Sheldon on you!"

"Ladies please." The orange one put his arms round the other two's shells and gave them a hug. "Let's not bicker in front of the guest. What will she think of us?"

"Who cares?" The red one said, gruffly. "We're never seeing her after this again anyway."

The orange one deflated a bit. "No fair enough. You're right. Anyway." He suddenly did a front flip over to the door and stood by it. "C'mon Losers! Let's get going!"

"Can you walk?" The blue one asked.

"Of course." April said, however as soon as she tried a red hot pain shot through her ankle and she promptly blacked out again.


	2. We meet again

**Hey! I'm back - and thanks to Moore98Luke for favouring and following.**

 **I'm debating whether or not to make this longer, I've got a bit of an idea for it now. [I.E. I've looked at the list of confirmed characters and villains and gone – ooh, really? Awesome!]**

 **BTW I'm not American, so therefore don't really know High schools.**

 **Anyway, feel free to check out my other stories, see chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on.**

It had been a week. One week since April had woke up in hospital with a sprained ankle and a lump on her head.

Five days since her dad had taken her home and asked her what had happened. April had told him she didn't know mainly because it sounded better than. 'I met four mutant turtles and a mutant rat'

And for the last four days she had been thinking about them. How did they eat? Did they need to bask? Did they like human food? What was the language they spoke to each other?

Okay this might be boarding on an obsession now. But hey, her curious nature was why she'd made it onto the journalist team at school.

One thing for sure she intended to find out.

"Dad! I'm going out!"

"Have fun and be back by ten!" He called back. April checked her watch. 18:30, plenty of time. Suddenly having a thought she doubled back and grabbed the bat her dad had given her last Christmas.

She proceeded to walk to the same place she was in last time, growing a bit nervous as this was where she'd been jumped by those idiots. Well, at least she had her bat.

She approached a the nearest wall and started tapping it, hoping to find a secret panel or something.

Meanwhile up on the highest building a purple-masked figure watched in disbelief from the shadows. "Is she…no she can't be." He squinted before saying, "She is. Oh man. Sensei's gonna love this." He muttered under his breath as he fished the T-Phone out and called his father. "C'mon, pick up pick up – Hello, sensei! It's Donnie – no I'm fine. No, I haven't got the others with me but I'm sure they're fine. Look, you remember that girl from last week? Yes, that's right Miss O'Neil. Well she's currently below the 26th Building, tapping at a wall with a baseball bat." He paused, before saying. "Yes, a baseball bat. For playing baseball with. Yeah, that's right. I think she's trying to find our lair for some reason. What do I do?" Upon hearing the response he nodded. "Got it. Thanks Sensei." He hung up and pressed the alarm button on his phone that would alert his brothers and sensei to his position and waited.

Down below April was now swinging the bat into the wall muttering under her breath. "Oh c'mon, c'mon. Oh C'mon! It's so easy in books! Ugh." She swung the bat away in frustration and sat down, hugging her knees to her chest and feeling a feeling of shame coming over her. "Of course talking turtles don't exist. You're an idiot, April, always will be." She stroked the bat and sighed. "Always will be."

"Hah!" Donnie jumped as Leo grabbed his shoulders from behind.

"Don't do that, you imbecile!"

"Made you jump though, didn't I?"

Raph shushed them both as he and Mikey joined them.

Mikey put his hands over his eyes ad looked at the scene below. "So what's the issue Done-a-tello?"

"A - Don't call me that, and B – she was hitting that wall with her baseball bat."

"What baseball bat?" Mikey leaned over and Raph pulled him back.

"Watch it! We're ninja's – we gotta stick to the shadow remember?"

"It's in her lap now. Anyway, I phoned Sensei to ask what to do and he said we need to bring her back to the lair so he can have a conversation with her."

Raph looked at his brother like he was mental. "He wants a conversation with her? With a human who we threw out last time?"

Donnie nodded and shrugged. "Don't look at me I'm just the messenger."

There was a beat while Raph and Donnie seemed to be having a silent conversation before Raph leapt elegantly of the building. "Let's go then!"

"And that gentleman is how you do that." Donnie said, to Leo and Mikey before they all followed.

Down below April was still hugging her knees to her chest and muttering t herself. Suddenly a shadow loomed over her and she swiftly grabbed the bat and stood up. "Who's there!?"

No answer. April gripped the bat tighter and said. "I said who's there!? I'm warning you, I've got a bat and I'm not afraid to use it!"

"Ooh nice line." The girl jumped as a voice spoke behind her. She turned round to be met with a grinning turtle with red lines on his face.

"Yeah, speaks volumes." She whipped round to the front to see an orange-banded turtle, who waved at her.

"Miss O'Neil?" She screamed as a purple banded turtle appeared at her shoulder. He instantly put his hand over her mouth and all three of them seemed to listen.

Not hearing sirens or the sound of running feet, the turtle let her go. "Miss O'Neil, I'm taking it you remember us?"

April moved her jaw side to side a few times before staring disbelievingly at the turtle. "Remember you!? I've not stopped thinking about you!"

"Well, Donnie, looks like you have a fan. Who's have thunk it?" April whipped round again, this time to see a big hunking turtle with a red bandanna.

A name flittered into her memory. "R-r-raphael?"

His eyes went wide. "You know my name?"

April lowered the bat a bit. "Your rat said it last time."

Behind her Donnie's eyebrows shot up and Leo and Mikey looked at each other and let out a low whistle, glancing up at the roof tops at the same time to make sure there wasn't anyone there.

Raphael chuckled deeply before saying. "'Our rat' has a name. It's Splinter."

"Splinter?"

"Like you get in your finger." The blue banded turtle said, waving his hands around to empathise.

"Exactly. The dork over there in blue is Leonardo."

"Hey!"

"The dweeb in orange is Michelangelo."

"Heya!"

"And behind you is Donatello."

April turned round to face Donatello, who simply nodded at her and said. "You can call me Donnie if it's easier."

"I'm Mikey!"

"Leo."

"Raph."

April closed her eyes and rubbed her head. "And I have a headache. What time is it? 21:15? I have to be back in forty-five minutes."

"This won't take long. Our lair only two blocks away. We'll even take you the non-manhole entrance.

"Non-" But April didn't have a chance to finish as Raph picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, causing her t drop the bat in the process. "Hey! Put me down!"

"Won't take long, just hang on tight."

"I'll scream!"

"Don't think you will, Donnie"

The turtle in question lifted his metal stick-thing and said. "Sorry Miss O'Neil." The next thing she knew all went black.


	3. No going back

**Thank you to Guest for reviewing. I'm glad you think the turtles are funny.**

 **Just a quik note, Splinters personality will probably be different from the actual ROTT's.**

 **See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on.**

As April opened her eyes the first thing she was aware of was a pounding headache and a sense of déjà vu. "Where am I?" She said, groggily.

"Back in our lair." A young male voice said. "Here. Put these on, they should help."

Her glasses came into view and April blearily reached for them and carefully put them on, before blinking a few times and looking round.

Four turtles grinned back at her. April scowled and rubbed her head. "What did you bozo's do to me!?" She snapped.

Instantly three of them took a step back leaving the purple banded one to roll his eyes. "Thanks guys." He said sarcastically, before turning back to April. "Miss O'Neil, do you remember who I am?"

"Er…" April scrunched her face up and tried to remember. Ah! "Done-a-tello!" She said triumphantly, only to shrink back when he face-palmed and the other three burst out laughing.

"Done-a-tello! Oh, we are so calling that from now on. How did I not see that before?" The orange one – Mikey? – scratched his chin.

Donatello shot a glare that would have frozen the Sahara and instantly shut all his brother up before turning back to April.

" _Don_ atello." He corrected. "Like the artist. Got it? Good. Do you remember who these knuckleheads are?"

April nodded before pointing at each one of them. "Mikey…Michelangelo. Leonardo…Leo. And – Ralph?"

"Raph." The big guy folded his arms. "Raphael."

"Oh sorry." The girl said, sincerely, pushing her glasses further up her nose. "But you still haven't answered my question." She said to Donatello. "What did you do to me? I'm pretty sure kidnappings against the law"

Donnie gave her a look. "What are you going to do? Go to the police? Oh, by the way officer I was kidnapped by four talking turtles? Don't be ridiculous. Now, as for how we got you here, I knocked you unconscious with specially-made short lasting knock-out gas concealed in this." He showed her the long metallic stick he had. "It's a bo-staff." He said, seeing that she clearly didn't understand what she was meant to be showing her. "Made of titanium and equipped with more self-defence measures than you can shake a stick at-"

"-No pun intended." Leo interrupted, with a smirk.

Donnie shot him that look again before carrying on. "-Including Knock-Out Gas that only last a couple of minute in case we want to make a quick getaway. Isn't it awesome?"

April nodded. "Very. So what time is it? Only my curfews ten and I've got to get back…"

Donnie checked his watch. "9:30. Or 21:30 by your watch."

"Okay, I've got to go." April made to get up when a older male voice interjected.

"One moment, Miss O'Neil." She sat back down as a small grey shrivelled rat walked towards her.

"S-S-S-" April knew she knew his name, but couldn't for the life of her remember it. In the background the turtles were all pointing at their fingers and the teenager decided to take a shot in the dark. "Skinner?"

Leo and Mikey burst out laughing as Donnie face-palmed again and Raph looked torn between the two.

The rat gave a wide grin. "My name is Splinter, Miss O'Neil." He corrected, gently. "Like you get in your finger."

Ah. That explained the turtles reaction. "Sorry." She seemed to be saying that a lot lately.

"It is no problem. Now, I have just one question. Why did you come back?"

April looked at him, not quite grasping the importance of his words. "Why did I come back?" She parroted.

Splinter patiently nodded. "You had a traumatic experience, followed shortly by another. We then say you can go and even take you to hospital when you collapsed on out floor. Most humans would stay away after that, but you? You came back, even went to the trouble of knocking on brick walls, if my second-oldest is to be believed. My question is simple, why?"

"Er…" April swallowed and rolled her tongue round trying to get saliva so she could talk properly. "I was curious. My mind…my brain…has not stopped thinking about you guys, frankly, since I woke up in hospital. It's annoying the heck out of me and I knew – I just knew that I wouldn't be able to rest until I got answers."

"Why?"

"Because I've always been inquisitive. It's the reason I made the journalist team at school."

"No, I mean why have you not been able to stop thinking about us? Most people upon meeting us want nothing more than to forget us immediately."

In the background April was dimly aware of the four turtles nodding. Focusing on Splinter though she said, hesitatingly. "To be honest? I'm not sure. I-I think it might be because…you guys seem, I know I hardly know you – but you seem so…interesting. I mean you can talk intelligently – very intelligently it seems." She said giving a quick look at Donnie who smiled. "And you joke around." She added, looking at Leo. "And make pop-culture references." She added looking at Mikey. "And take the time to introduce yourselves." That was Raphael. "And…now you." She looked back at Splinter. "Are sitting here having a conversation with me when you don't have to. You could have just left me tapping on that brick wall, but you didn't. I'm…intrigued by you, if intrigued isn't to sciencey a word to use."

Splinter stroked his goatee. "No it isn't. Hhhmm. This is an interesting development." He looked straight at her and said seriously. "Miss O'Neil, you do realise if you persist in your friendship with my sons – with us – then your life will never be normal again? There will be no going back. And there will be danger. Lots of danger. Do you know Martial Arts?"

April shook her head.

"My sons." Splinter waved his hand in their general direction. "Are trained in ninjutsu. Enough to defend themselves with and defend themselves very well, and with weapons and disguises, but not advanced. Nowhere near advanced. You'd need training as well. I could teach you. Or you could try to learn Judo or Karate. They would help, but it would take a very long time and lots of practice."

"I play sports." April said. "I play baseball, and basketball and softball and a couple of others as well. I train a lot in those And I can run very well. I can sprint and run a marathon."

"But can you throw a punch?"

April hung her head. She couldn't.

Splinter nodded. "I thought so. See if your school has a Judo or Karate class. Do you have any jobs?"

"I work at a pizza place."

"Pizza!?" The four turtles said together.

Mikey ran over to her. "Believe it or not we never ever tried it! Can you bring us some tomorrow? Pretty pretty please?"

April looked at him. "How do you know I'm coming back tomorrow?"

Donnie put his hand on his hip and looked at her. "Well, aren't you?"

She already knew the answer to that.


	4. Tour De Turtle Part 1

**Thank you to Beebeetwister24 for following and favouring this story.**

 **I'm not sure how the wall works, but thy need to get the fleet of battleships out somehow don't they? And I'm certain they couldn't get them up the manhole cover.**

 **See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on.**

It was following these events that April found herself outside the 30th building this time, facing a brick wall with two large pizza's in her arms. She wasn't sure what the turtles would like, seeing as they hadn't told her so she'd stuck with the basic mozzarella. She'd got two so they could have a half each and, if they didn't like it, her and her dad would have no problem eating the rest themselves.

Talking of her dad she'd told him she was spending the evening at a friend's house and would be home about 11. He said he hoped she had a nice time and to call him if anything went wrong.

To be honest she felt very guilty for deceiving him, but what was she meant to do? Ask if he'd mind if she visited four talking turtles and their rat father? He'd have her committed to a mental ward by the morning.

Another thing the turtles had omitted to mention was how exactly she was expected to get into the lair, being unconscious the last two times. So she just stood there like a dumb pizza-serving mannequin hoping no one would appear and ask her what on earth she was doing.

Thankfully luck was on her side and no on turned up for a solid ten minutes. Including the turtles, much to April's annoyance. Just as she was about to forget all this and go back home the wall hissed and she automatically took a step back and watched in amazement as they wall slid open.

Donatello stood behind it, looking a bit embarrassed. "Sorry we're a bit late." He said, by way of greeting. "We've been spring cleaning. Well, mainly Mikey to be honest. His room looked like the inside of a garbage bin. Anyway, come in. Nice to see you." He added as an afterthought.

April nodded and carefully stepped into the pitch black room, feeling as if she was a damsel about to be kidnapped. All she needed was the psycho music and the scene would be complete.

"This way." Donnie said, saving her from panicking to much. "Are those pizza's?" He added.

"They totally are – I got two large moza – wait. You can see in the dark?"

"Pretty much. We still rely a lot on senses, such as smell for instance. Those pizza's smell delicious. Here, follow me." He gently took her wrist and led her forward. "What did you say they were again?"

"Mozzarella's. I thought for the first try best not to fling to many flavours on." April said, trying not to sound like she was very, very nervous.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. We're not particularly picky eaters, we'll basically try everything once, and sometimes twice if a couple of years has passed in between. Watch the step!" She felt his grip tighten and pull her back a little. "After me. Actually, do you have a phone?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Put the torch on it. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier."

Neither did April. Feeling a little annoyed she fished her phone out her pocket and stabbed her passcode into it. "You know if I had my bat with me you'd be at the bottom of those stairs right now." She said, clicking her torch on and blinking as light flooded her vision.

She aimed the torch in Donnie's general direction just in time to see him give her a look that could only be described as 'Oh really?'.

"I totally could!"

He held his hands up. "Course you could, April. Course you could. Now, let's see if we can get you down these ten concrete steps without breaking your neck, okay? Carefully does it – they're a bit slippy…"

Eventually she managed it and shined the torch back up the stairs to see how fair she'd come.

"If you're going to post that on instagram, I'd advise against it." Donnie said snarkliy from behind her.

"I wasn't going to – wait." April spun round. "You know instagram?"

He nodded. "And face book. And Mikey does tumbler. The only one who doesn't do social media that much is Raph, and that's mainly because his fingers are to big for the screen. Now follow me. If you wouldn't mind." And he just walked off down the tunnel.

April quickly followed him, covering her nose as the smell hit her. "Ugh. Ack! Ugh, that's disgusting!"

"You'll get used to it" Donnie said, in a tone that said he clearly thought she was overreacting. "Now, may I present the lair?" And using his bo-staff he swung the door open.


	5. Tour De Turtle Part 2

**Okay, first of all sorry for the delay. I've been on holiday, but that's not really much of an excuse seeing as it was only for a week.**

 **The good news is I know where I'm going with this fic now. It's not as long as I originally thought it would be.**

 **I haven't watched the series, so basically making up the description of the lair.**

 **Thank you to ShortFandonGirl for reviewing the chapters. You basically reminded me this existed. [BTW if there's anyone who's wondering why it's worth giving a review – that's why]**

 **See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's go.**

The lair definitely looked more impressive from the door than the sofa. It was massive for one thing, though cold and bare, but there was something…grand about the set-up. She could also see that there was more than one room. The living room split out into 2 separate doors and what looked like a corridor.

Next to her, Donnie cleared his throat, gaining April's attention back in the process. She looked at him and he nodded towards the side of the door.

The rat – Splinter even – was sitting in an armchair that was placed in front of a TV. He nodded a her and smiled softly.

His other sons were more energised, waving at her cheerfully from the sofa, saying various versions of 'Hey, April!'

She waved back nervously, feeling butterflies in her stomach.

Mikey was the first to actually move. "April! Hey!" He bounded up to her and hugged her before immediately drawing back. "Is that pizza?"

"Magarita." Donnie answered for her, seeing she was at a lost.

"Can we have it now? Sensei? Can we have it now?"

The rat smiled. "I don't see why not."

The boys all got up, and Donnie put his hands on her shoulders. "We'll show you the kitchen." And opened the door on one wall.

Said kitchen was black with grime, the only white thing being the fridge. The four brothers sat down in what were clearly assigned places, Splinter sat down in the remaining chair and they all looked at April who placed the pizza's on the table. "Enjoy."

The boys smacked the lips and reached towards the box at the same time as Splinter cleared his throat and said. "My sons? Perhaps Mrs O'Neil would like a seat?"

The boys looked at each other and there seemed to be some silent conversation till Leo made a show of getting up and drawing his chair back. "Mrs O'Neil." He said, in a fairly good imitation of Splinter. "Please take a seat in our humble abode."

April giggled and sat down. "Why, thank you, kind sir." She found herself saying.

Leo sat down on the floor. "No problem, my lady. Oi! My fair Donatello – pass us a slice will you?"

Donnie rolled his eyes but obliged his brother and thus started a free-for-all.

April managed to eat one measly slice of pizza amongst the…carnage that followed. It was all over in 2 minutes.

The boys sat back and simultaneously let out a belch. April looked at Splinter, who smiled and shrugged slightly as if to say 'What can you do?'

There was a comfortable silence, then Leo said. "I suppose we'd better get on with the rest of the tour."

And as if they hadn't all just stuffed their faces, they all got up and grinned at her.

Donnie was the first to speak. "Are you ready to go? See the rest of the lair, I mean." He clarified, after realising how his words could be misinterpreted.

April said nothing, but gave a thumbs up.

Donnie waved his hands around. "So this is the kitchen, obviously, any questions?"

"Yes – why is the fridge the only things that's white?"

"Well, first of all the work surfaces are dark grey anyway, secondly I only got the fridge a couple of months ago and I made it very clear I wanted it to stay in one piece for at least a year."

"What he means is he threated to shock us with his bo-staff if we destroyed it." Raph said, rolling his eyes.

Donnie looked heaven-wards but didn't actually deny it. "Shall we go?"

April nodded and Donnie indicated the door. As they left she could hear the other three going. 'Ooohh' behind them and Splinter telling them to shut up.


	6. Tour De Turtle Part 3

**Thank you to for everyone who's favouritted and followed this story. This is the final chapter.**

 **See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on.**

They went back into the living room. "So this is where we chill and stuff." Donnie said, waving his staff around to empathise. "We have a TV, you may have noticed it earlier. It's mainly Splinters, he likes watching soaps and stuff." Donnie shrugged and scrunched his beak up a bit. Clearly he didn't think a lot about Splinters soaps.

April nodded, looking politely around the living room. There was a bookshelf filled with various items. "What's that?" She pointed at it.

Donnie followed her hand and his eyes went a little large. " _That_ would be Splinters so-not-touch shelf. As the name implies everything – and I do mean everything – is off limits. Including the wood. Now." He abruptly changed the subject. "If you'll be so kind as to follow me through this door…"

There was another little corridor on the other side. "I'm getting some strong Alice in Wonderland Vibes." April said, looking around.

Donnie gave a grin. "Well, thankfully you don't have to worry about the rooms getting smaller." He sighed and scratched the back of his shell with his bo-staff. "Look, I'll just keep this short. Down this side-" He pointed the staff to the left. "Is Splinters private bed-chambers, the bathroom is opposite and that door you can see at the end is the dojo. I'll show you the dojo actually, it _is_ kinda cool…" With that he strode of.

April scurried after him and gasped upon peering into the room. It was quite large, with a mat on the floor.

It was a strange effect, normally the fact that there was nothing in a room and it was freezing to boot would mean that April would move on or not go in it. But this, she thought as she stepped inside, this was something else. It seemed to have a power about it, to be crackling with electricity though it was – of course – completely stationary.

"Yeah we only started training a little while ago." Donnie was saying behind her. "Myself, Michael and Raph."

April frowned, her thoughts about the room disturbed. "What about Leo?"

"He likes to sleep in. Splinter says we should leave him. Leo needs his rest apparently." She couldn't see him, but somehow April knew he'd be rolling his eyes.

April nodded.

"Shall we go?"

She nodded again and followed Donnie out the room.

"Now to the other side." Donnie said, taking long steps down the corridor. "As you might have figured this is where we are. We each have a bedroom to ourselves and this here-" Donnie lay his hand on the door off the other side and giggled a little madly. "-This is my lab." The giggles intensified and April found herself subconsciously stepping away.

Donnie didn't even seem to realise and opened the door, before beckoning to her. "Come in, come in. Have you ever seen a lab before?"

Apil hadn't and curiosity overcame her and she followed him in.

If she thought the dojo was impressive it was nothing on the lab.

A large table stood solitary along one wall. It was filled with beakers, books and various other implements.

There were a couple of smaller tables and filled with what looked like to April [if you wanted her honest opinion] junk. Wisely she didn't say so.

Clearly Donnie loved the place, he talked energetically about the stuff he had there, showing her different books. Being a student, April couldn't help noticing all his books were out of date. When she pointed this out, Donnie stiffened and put the books down. "Well, yes. This is all we can scavenge from the bins and shops." He scoffed. "You wouldn't believe the wonders people throw out. Non-fiction books that are more than 6 months out of date tend to be discarded. You humans are so wasteful."

"Hey, we're not all so bad!" April said, determined to stand up for her race. "Loads of people give to charity somehow-"

"-Okay, okay. I apologise. Will you come back at some point?"

April nodded. "Yes of course." She smiled. "You guys are my friends now."

 **I might write some more in ROTT continuity. Stay tuned!**


End file.
